The Geospatial Unit of the Land and Water Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) collaboratively conducted a virtual training workshop from November 6 to 8, 2023. This workshop was aimed to enhance capacity on the utilization of remote sensing and geospatial technologies to facilitate sustainable monitoring of natural resources in Arab countries. 

This event represents a continuation of the FAO and AOAD's ongoing efforts to improved geospatial capacities of national experts in Arab countries. Building on the success of the previous training held in March 2023, this follow-up workshop contributed to further enhance the proficiency of experts from Arab countries in employing cutting-edge geospatial technologies, specifically for crop monitoring, including assessments of crop area and yield estimation. 

More than 100 experts from 14 countries registered and participated in the training sessions. The training included informative presentations, hands-on exercises, and discussions regarding the applications of remote sensing and geospatial techniques for crop monitoring employing relevant standards, tools and platforms including Land Cover Meta Language (LCML), System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL), Collect Earth Online (CEO), Google Earth Engine (GEE), among others. Emphasis was placed on equipping the participants with the knowledge and skills needed to prepare geospatial data in support of effective crop monitoring practices.